What is the most UN-frugal thing... - Page 3

[BookGoddess]

1. People who leave the faucet running while they're talking or doing something else.

2. People who have their sprinklers go on at the hottest time of the day when the water is most likely to evaporate.

3. People who waste food either by barely eating the food or not saving the leftovers.

4. People who use disposables all the time. Sometimes disposables are necessary but I know people who use disposable plates, utensils, bags etc habitually.

5. People who always want a newer, bigger, more expensive, (insert adjective) of whatever they already have that's working perfectly fine.

6. As a PP said..expensive lavish birthday parties for young children.

[azzuranotte]

Throwing out money... literally. I know a lady who throws out pennies.

[Lazyhead]

I second the "sprinkler during the hottest time of the day thing" or when it's raining It drives me competely insane.

But item that pisses me off more than any other for sheer wastefulness is

Bottled Water.

Buy a Brita and a Sigg for pete's sake. :

[wonderwahine]

Originally Posted by azzuranotte

Throwing out money... literally. I know a lady who throws out pennies.

argggggggggggg there was a guy on tv the other night when they were talking about getting rid of the penny, and he throws them in the trash!!!

i hate the penny but i keep them in a piggy bank either for me and dh (before ds was born) and now for ds, then once its full, take it to the bank and get it changed into $1 bills.

[wonderwahine]

Originally Posted by Lazyhead

Buy a Brita and a Sigg for pete's sake. :

i actually looked into these, and found that they were a waste of money, once you make the intitial purchase, the filters cost just about as much as the whole starter system.

me and dh decided since most tap water in the US is high quality, especially in our area (acccording to surveys), that we would just fill the 3 gallon container we put in our frdige for cold water with boiled water once its cooled. They tell you to boil it when the water system has a problem, so if theres anything they didnt catch,its killed.

[MommyDOK]

Throwing food (that has gone bad) away. This happens to us a lot. I make something, forget it's in there and then have to throw it away.

[msjd123]

Originally Posted by annekevdbroek

The most unfrugal thing I see ALL the time down here in TX.....

Driving a giant SUV - particularly for a long daily commutes, with one or max two people in it.

Buying a huge 3500+ sq ft McMansion way out in the suburbs, setting up oneself to have to drive everywhere, plus all the additional costs of heating, cooling of said giant house, etc.

This KILLS me!!! I see it out here a lot in CA, too, and I can't stand it.

I have IL's who seem addicted to keeping up with the Joneses. We were just dragged over there last weekend to look at the new TV, the new entertainment unit, the new couch, BLAH BLAH BLAH. I hate it!

[funnygrace]

My aunt doesn't use dishes for everyday meals. She uses paper plates and plastic cups.. After the meal, throw the leftovers and place setting out. All done! Very convenient.

[rosie_plus_one]

I'm always kind of amazed by how much little stuff on bills people don't notice. For example, one of my credit cards had put on an insurance plan for $4.99 a month or something and it took me about 3 months to notice it and then call and cancel. Similarly, my FIL never noticed that he was being billed for two cable boxes when he only had one. Since every single bill he had ever gotten had been the same amount, he never thought to look at the breakdown.

I see this a lot with credit cards and bank fees.

[msjd123]

Originally Posted by Lazyhead

Buy a Brita and a Sigg for pete's sake. :

One more perspective on this: We have a sink-mounted water-filtration system. I'm not sure what its "official" name is, but we have a little spigot next to the faucet, and the whole system (reverse osmosis) is installed underneath the sink. For a family of three who drinks A LOT of water, it only costs us about $90 a year to maintain. I haven't run the numbers in a few years, but as I recall, both Brita and bottled water were considerably more than that. We were lucky in that the whole system was already installed when we bought our house, but if you're handy, you can install it yourself.

[hlkm2e]

me and dh decided since most tap water in the US is high quality, especially in our area (acccording to surveys), that we would just fill the 3 gallon container we put in our frdige for cold water with boiled water once its cooled. They tell you to boil it when the water system has a problem, so if theres anything they didnt catch,its killed.

Romans mom, be careful especially where you live, of boiling your water. When you boil the nitrate levels rise, they don't get better. I would suspect that being in an agricultural area your water could have higher nitrates in the summer because of runoff. I'm in Ohio and after big rains we sometimes have nitrate warnings on our water. Supposedly high nitrates are "fine" for adults but dangerous to young children.

[Lazyhead]

Originally Posted by msjd123

One more perspective on this: We have a sink-mounted water-filtration system. I'm not sure what its "official" name is, but we have a little spigot next to the faucet, and the whole system (reverse osmosis) is installed underneath the sink. For a family of three who drinks A LOT of water, it only costs us about $90 a year to maintain. I haven't run the numbers in a few years, but as I recall, both Brita and bottled water were considerably more than that. We were lucky in that the whole system was already installed when we bought our house, but if you're handy, you can install it yourself.

We actually have a sink mounted filter as well--DH has a Brita at work.

I would never drinkour water--it stinks of chlorine

[Amys1st]

thought of another- large cable/direct tv plans. I have seen families who have tvs in almost every room and huge plans where there is like 180 channels to watch. Is there enough time in the day to watch these???
I guess I see watching away the hours as time wasting since we are not big tv watchers in this family.

Another big one- going to the grocery store hungry. Bad move, you buy things based on cravings and that could include junk food etc.

This is also something new to me- medical/rx waste. I have had quite an education with a premiee about waste. We had a rx for her that is between $600-1000 a month. Thankfully its only costing us about $100. So the first month, did it, second month- picked it up and spent $100 or so for it. 3 days into it- the Dr said she didnt need it anymore. So we are stuck w/ this expensive meds. Thankfully the hospital has a foundation that helps parents who cannot afford this med either not covered or no insr. Since its all still perfect in the package and in my hands for only a day, passed it on to them. Took the donation as a tax deduction. Its a shame this type of med cannot be filled as a "3 day supply" and wait and see. We also passed on some unused supplies that were given to us w/ her O2 and monitors when she came home. Never needed the stuff but already paid for it. Some one else can use it.

[SleeplessMommy]

Two more wastes of money:

a) the diamond engagemnt ring "two months salary". A huge waste of money and not an "investment in the future"

b) expensive weddings!

[kamilla626]

I always have trouble keeping my mouth shut when I'm at someone's house and I see them washing the dishes by hand before putting them in the dishwasher.

I don't know which is more frugal - hand washing, or using a dishwasher... but why do both? :

Other things...
Buying shoes for infants, or buying many many pairs of shoes for any young child. What little girl needs 11 pairs of maryjanes?

Running a car for more than 10-15 min. when it's cold and snowy outside. I know some people that let their car run their car in their driveway for an hour so they don't have to clear any ice or snow off the windows.

Spending $50 a month on anti-wrinkle cream or "age-defying" stuff. When I worked at a drugstore years ago I was amazed at how many women spent $100 at one time on stuff like that.

[wonderwahine]

Originally Posted by hlkm2e

Romans mom, be careful especially where you live, of boiling your water. When you boil the nitrate levels rise, they don't get better. I would suspect that being in an agricultural area your water could have higher nitrates in the summer because of runoff. I'm in Ohio and after big rains we sometimes have nitrate warnings on our water. Supposedly high nitrates are "fine" for adults but dangerous to young children.

we arn't to close to much agricultureal run off in my area, but ds only drinks nursery water.....i know, more expensive, but i prefer it.

[kdmama33]

In response to the bottled water thing ...

I'm very frugal in a lot of ways, but I still drink bottled water, because I wouldn't drink water at all, otherwise. I refuse to drink tap water or allow my kids to drink tap water, as I have some very strong reservations about flouride consumption. Not to mention that it tastes awful! We've tried every filter under the sun, and I just don't like the taste. I'm a water snob, but it's the ONLY thing I really drink. (I drink tea and kombucha, too, but I use water to make both of those things.) So I buy bottled water because it keeps me drinking water, and my kids, too, as they are all huge water drinkers.

When we build our new house next year-- the frugality of that aside -- we will install a whole house water filtration system. It will pay for itself within two years, in the savings we see in not buying bottled water.

[No2Circ]

Originally Posted by nmb

Also, in many cases, full-time daycare, especially w/ very young children. I know, necessary in some cases, but in most (w/ 2 parents), you can make more money for your time if 1 parent works at night.

I could never make the same amount of money working different hours in a different field. Neither could dh. (And our current careers don't allow different hours.)

[Shaunam]

1) Cigarettes. I *know* it can be hard to quit and a lot of people hate that they smoke, but some people, like my dad, don't bother trying to quit or even cut back. He says he's made it this far, no point in quitting now. And he spends $220 a MONTH on cigs! Yikes! Our grocery bill is less than that!

2) Using tons and tons of detergent in the laundry. Ok, so I feel privileged knowing you don't usually *need* the full recommended amount, but most of my family use TWICE the recommended amount. Here's how my dad's white laundry goes: small load, 2 full caps of liquid detergent, 1 cup bleach, then he dries them with 2 dryer sheets. Ummm, can we say "overboard"??? And it smelllls. : My older sister uses twice the amount, plus fabric softener, then uses a dryer sheet. It seems that wouldmake your clothes wear out faster too with all the detergent build-up.

3) Designer shoes for babies. How long do they wear size two nikes anyways?

4) Most disposable products when used on a regular basis. My sister uses paper plates a lot. If the dinner she cooked is messy, like speghetti, she'll use regular plates because obviously a paper plate won't hold up. But if she can get away with using paper, she will. Disposable bibs crack me up! How hard is it to wash a bib?

[Amys1st]

I have to agree w the statement about daycare by both posts. I see how daycare sucks up most on one of the incomes, but in many cases, that income also carries the familie's benefits, etc. I would never be able to work at night in my old career since most of the business was done during regular business hours.